This Gronk is the Athol Police Department's new dog. The year-old German shepherd is undergoing a 14-week training program.

Chief Russell Kleber tells The Recorder (http://bit.ly/2rznwGh ) that Gronk will be the department's first K-9 officer in seven or eight years. He says he wanted to name the dog after a Boston sports figure and recalled that the real Gronk has a connection to town.

After attending a nearby charity event in February, the Patriots player stopped by an Athol Subway shop and ordered a footlong chicken, cheese and guacamole sandwich that the restaurant's owner dubbed the Big Subkowski.